World Travel & Understanding
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As world travel should provide an understanding of other cultures....

Unfortunately that doesn't always work out. I've known that for a long time, but it was made very clear to me by a post on the Mechanical Investing board at TMF quite a while ago. A guy who grew up in the Middle East mentioned that understanding happens only very rarely. What happens much more often, is that either prejudices get reinforced or illusions get shattered and sentiment makes an about-turn.

My own cousin is a very good example of the latter and I have known hundreds of people who came out here because they were fascinated with ancient Chinese art and culture in general. They were thinking in terms of Taoism or (much more rarely) Confucianism, of Kung Fu or T'ai Chi Ch'uan and a whole host of other typically Chinese endeavors. They conveniently "forgot" the other aspects of Chinese culture and were not at all pleased with the general selfishness that usually comes with it.

"If you don't like the way they drive, get off the sidewalks!" was a joke for some, but an offense for others. Getting an elbow rammed into the solar plexus because an old lady wanted to be first on the bus was generally not appreciated. The crowds, the noise, the chaos, the dirt, the unbelievable ugliness of the cities and the constant talk of money, money, money had the effect to turn the erstwhile Chinese-lovers into Chinese-haters with an attitude.

And it ain't only China or Asia where this happens. The same is true in the Middle East, when tribal cultures come into contact with modern civilization, and everywhere else on the planet.

What I am trying to say is that understanding doesn't necessarily come about by world travel, especially not if the contact is brief. And it sure as hell doesn't come about by reading books alone. It needs time, a whole lot of time, it needs actual contact "on the ground" and more than anything else it needs constant effort to try and understand the other side.

This may seem a bit harsh, but I would say in 99% of the cases the understanding is merely superficial. I am talking of long-timers here. (Just asked Liping and she thinks so too.) This comes to light when trying to predict how a person of a particular culture might react to a certain dilemma, say the divorce of a daughter or the inheritance of a distant relative and things like that.

These things have always fascinated me, so much so that I started doing my original master's thesis on something called "cultural dimensions". I worked on it for a couple of years, but in the end decided that marketing would be more useful in a career as I still thought I wanted to be a manager then.

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When I first started China Studies/Sinology I vowed to be different. I would have plenty of Chinese friends and not only hang out with other foreigners. I would learn the language, learn how to read and write and I would integrate. Above all other things, I would try to understand.

Well, I have failed. I do have Chinese friends, quite a few and more than a handful of them have been my friends for two decades. I have lived almost all of my adult life over here and if I stay but a few more years and my hair turns even grayer, some people might call me an old China hand. And still I have not learned to enjoy Mah Jong, or Shaohsing Wine, I still get pissed off by the thoughtlessness and selfishness and I more then ever question the way this society is going.

I have not learned to share their values, I do not think that working 365 days a year is the way to go and I still don't get it why people place so much value on that damn face-thing of theirs. And while I am saying all this, Liping and other Chinese people call me the most Chinese of the foreigners they know. And I think they are right on target, too.

Peace & Boat Drinks Discussion Board